On a busy stretch in Clermont on Lake Shore Drive, tucked behind a home greenhouse packed with tropical leaves and carefully labeled pots, a shy 9-year-old has found his niche.

Parker’s Plants didn’t begin as a grand business plan. It grew slowly, like most good things do.

“So, Take a Plant, Leave a Plant is run by Jasmine and Jose Bonia. They live over in Groveland but were originally over on Mohawk Road and outside their home they had a swap stand,” says Sonya Stoner. “We got into trying out house plants and started going off to trade and find new things and that’s what sparked Parker’s interest in plants.”

At first, the plants filled her porch.

“I first started with a personal collection and it took up the whole porch,” Sonya says. “We started with mostly cactus and succulents,” she says.

Her youngest son Parker didn’t just admire them. He studied them.

“He likes the research more. He likes to look up the plants and kind of figure out what their needs are and learn more of the technical aspect,” Sonya says. “How to tell when they need water and so we’re slowly working on identifying the different kinds.”

Ask Parker his favorite plant and he’ll answer softly but confidently: “Vermillions.”

Chief Photographer and plant person Nicole Hamel, with me on location saved the interview, because I, knowing nothing about plants except how to kill them, got Parker to open up because of her personal understanding for his passion. 

She asked him whether he likes the flowers or the variety of the Vermillion family.

“Both,” he says.

At their home, Sonya says that when temperatures drop, everything, including personal plants, gets moved into the greenhouse.

“The greenhouse is packed full right now. It’s a little messy. The windstorm that came through recently even knocked over a couple of shelves,” Sonya says.

As for Parker’s love of plants morphing into a business, the turning point came in second grade.

“In second grade, you had an economics project. What kind of store did you have?” she prompts him.

He nods and says: “A plant store.”

Sonya says each student had to bring in at least 35 items to sell for their store. Parker brought 70 and sold out by the end of the school day.

“As we’re walking into the school with our wagon full of plants, all the office staff and teachers up there that morning were rushing to see what he had and then go to his classroom to buy,” she says. “After realizing how popular it was, Parker started talking about wanting to sell more, so we would do a little Facebook selling here and there.”

After starting that, however, selling a few plants on Facebook wasn’t enough.

“We decided to go forward and have him be legitimate,” she says.

Now Parker homeschools, which gives him flexibility to focus on both academics and plants.

“He started homeschool this year and it allowed him to start his business, as well,” Sonya says.

The business sells a wide variety of plants, many grown in their greenhouse. Some come from wholesale nurseries.

“We’ve grown some of them from propagations off our mom plants and in the greenhouse. Some of them we do purchase from other wholesale nurseries, like our Harmony begonias, which are beautiful,” Sonya says.

Clippings are lightly rooted before they’re sold.

“We always make sure that our clippings are at least lightly rooted, because sometimes rooting them is hard and you kind of have to know what you’re doing,” Sonya says. We’d hate for somebody to get something and not make it.”

They also rehab struggling plants.

“We have a whole tank full of what we call our rehab plants that just need a lot of extra love,” she says.

For Sonya, Parker’s business is about more than just greenery.

“I really like gardening and plants and I also love having something that we can connect on and that gets him out of the house,” Sonya says. “There’s just something about putting your hands in soil; it’s so grounding. It’s what I like to do and I don’t have to do it alone now because I got my youngest one interested in it with me.” 

“It just feels like something that I can kind of teach and learn with him about at the same time,” she says.

She also sees the bigger picture.

“Even if he doesn’t continue with plants as he gets older, the business management aspect of it and socializing skills is all going to help him in the future,” Sonya says. “So whether he sticks with this or decides he likes something else, whatever it may be, at least,he’s got some good morals and work ethic instilled in him. I don’t want him to think everything’s just handed.”

For now, however, Parker is content among the leaves, researching, potting and occasionally stepping out of his comfort zone to talk about “Vermillions.”

“We like to work for what we have, no matter how much or how little,” she says.

To learn more about Parker’s Plants or see upcoming sales and market appearances, follow the business on Facebook and Instagram.

Photos by Nicole Hamel and provided.